Promise
by Omega135
Summary: She's not as crazy as everyone thinks...but she promised. Ten truths about Luna Lovegood. Luna/Neville, rated T to be safe


10 Truths About Luna Lovegood

1. Despite what she knows is said about her, she is not oblivious to the comments or stares she gets; nor is she unaffected by them. She is just better than most people about showing her humiliation. But her father would be devastated if she asked him to buy her normal clothes, or is she styled her hair or did anything to, as he worded it, "assimilate with the brainless clones of today". Still…she can't help but wonder what it would be like to feel like she belonged.

2. Neville, the boy that she thinks she may have accidentally given her heart to, is oblivious. And he really only associates with her because he has no other friends, and as they are both outcasts, he figured she'd be grateful to have someone to talk to. But she wouldn't have become his friend if she hadn't liked him. He is seen as dorky, and clumsy, but for somebody who has been through so much, he is sweet and brave and strong.

3. Harry is a good friend to have, loyal and smart and brave. A little introverted, but she talks enough for the both of them. Unfortunately, he and Ron are a package deal. And while Ron isn't _purposely_ cruel, he often manages to step on her feelings, and when Hermione elbows him, she feels her pity and does not like it. She does not want to be the charity case of Harry's friends.

4. The night that Voldemort came back, and Dumbledore's Army went to the Ministry with Harry, she got distracted by the crystals. Everyone laughed and left her, figuring she was looking for some imaginary creatures. She wasn't. She was wondering if any of the many prophecies held something of her mother, a prominent former member of the Ministry. But it was impossible to tell, and while she was distracted, she was cornered by one of the nasty Death Eaters. He had tortured her, telling her Harry would be found eventually. She didn't care. She didn't betray her friends. He left her lying on the floor bleeding, until hours later when she was able to drag herself up and join the fighting. Nobody noticed her absence. And she couldn't bother Nurse Pomfrey when she had much more pressing matters to attend to. But for weeks afterwards she felt empty, aching, and in pain.

5. When Neville finally dragged the truth out of her, instead of being supportive, he yelled at her for being stupid. He told her that if she hadn't been so loony, she wouldn't have gotten cornered by a Death Eater. That if she had been more competent, she would have been able to defend herself. She had nodded as he yelled, allowed him to get it out of his system, and then walked away. She hadn't spoken to him since. Deep down, she was aware that he was stressed and concerned and had snapped. But he had been one of the only people in the school never to have called her loony. Even Harry had slipped up once. She didn't know when or if she would forgive him. But she still loved him.

6. She knew that she did nothing to stop the whispers, the laughs, the jokes at her expense. Like the time she had brought the lion head to the Quidditch game. That was in a fit of hopelessness. People were never going to allow her to fit in, so why not go all out? And when she was announcing the game? That had been fun. Harry had looked stressed and upset, and she figured it couldn't hurt to try and lighten the mood. Slytherins had tormented her for weeks afterwards, hexing her books to scream in the middle of class, jinxing her quills to snap whenever she used them, and other, nastier forms of bullying. And it had only reinforced the school's opinion of her. But Harry's smile had made it worth it.

7. Her dad's newspaper, _The Quibbler_, was a load of junk. But every day when she was home, he forced her to help with the editing and printing. One day, she had told him that she was tired and going to sleep, and hadn't helped him. He hadn't protested it, nor mentioned it for weeks afterwards. But when she needed new clothes for school, he had refused. She had had to wear old ones that year, and anything she could find in her attic. She caught a lot of heat for it at school. That was the year people took her belongings. If her mom had been there, she would have stood up for her.

8. The imaginary creatures that everyone thought she imagined, were in fact imagination. Her dad didn't need to know otherwise. But her imaginary friends were loyal, and they kept her company. They had been by her side since her mother's death and her father's slow descent out of the realm of sanity. She didn't know why they _couldn't_ be real to her.

9. Ginny Weasley, her first real friend at Hogwarts, had mostly become her friend out of hatred for the Slytherin's that tormented her. Ginny stood up for her, hexed them, and began striking up a friendship. Deep down, though, she was sure that only a desire for revenge had ignited their camaraderie. And Ginny was popular. All of the boys wanted to date her, and all of the girl's asked her for tips on hair and makeup. Ginny was never anything but kind, and often offered to give her a makeover, but she always refused. Her dad would have had a conniption if he knew. But when she was alone, she allowed herself to feel the envy and longing.

10. And, honestly, her dad never really would have known even if she _had_ allowed Ginny to make her look as though she were normal. But before her mother died, she made her promise to stick by her dad and make him happy no matter what. That she was all of the family he would have left. She promised her mom she would do everything in her power to make her dad happy, before the woman who she loved took her final breath. And she had. She still did. How she acted, dressed, and spoke were all for her dad, who was on the verge of a breakdown any day now. Soon, she would have to take him to St. Mungo's. But she wouldn't stop giving everything she had to make him happy.

She had promised.


End file.
